by Sean Stone
Kristen jutted her chin out and her nostrils flared. “Clara,” she said tensely. “I’m sorry for trying to kill you last night.” She looked Clara right in the eye when she said it, but clearly she didn’t mean a word of it.
“Yeah, right,” Clara muttered. “You’re just waiting for another opportunity.”
“She’s not,” said James. “Whether she means it or not she’s not going to try again,” he said firmly, giving Kristen the same look one might give a misbehaving child. “We’ve come to warn you about the person who put her up to it.”
“Blackwood,” whispered Arthur, his lip curling.
“No,” Kristen said at once. “He had nothing to do with it.”
“Then who?”
“Apophis,” said James and was met by silence. “Judging from the look on your face this isn’t the first time you’ve heard that name?”
“No. No it’s not.” Arthur fell onto the arm of Clara’s chair, rubbing the patch of baldness on his head. “He convinced Adam to try and kill me.”
“Yeah, Nick said he was after Clara. I guess it’s both of you,” said James.
“Why? Who is he?” asked Dean, who had rather disrespectfully sat on the edge of the bed.
James walked completely into the room, Kristen just behind him and then explained everything to them that Nick had told him and Kristen the night before.
“That doesn’t explain why he’s after us, though,” said Clara when he was done.
James shrugged. “Nick didn’t speculate on that. He didn’t really want anything to do with it.”
“Wise. I don’t want anything to do with it either,’ said Arthur.
“Doesn’t look like you have a choice,” Kristen said under her breath.
“Thanks for stating the obvious,” shot Clara.
“Even if he wasn’t after us. He’s up to something bad which means he’s on our list of people to stop. We need to take him down,” said Arthur. As if things couldn’t have gotten any worse. “We need to get him cured.” Arthur pointed at Richie.
“Cured of what?” Kristen asked, looking over.
“Cobra venom,” explained Dean.
Kristen moved closer to get a closer look. “That’s not cobra venom,” she said.
“What is it then?” demanded Clara, jumping on anything Kristen said. Arthur put a hand on her shoulder to try and settle her.
“Has he been invited in?” she asked.
“No, he was out of it when we brought him in,” said Arthur.
“There’s your problem. If a vampire gets into a house they’ve not been invited in to they desiccate. Take him outside and he’ll heal right away.”
‘Are you fucking serious? It’s that simple?” Clara said in annoyance.
“I fucking am serious, yes,” Kristen replied with a smirk.
“Thank you, thank you so much,” Arthur said excitedly, forgetting that Kristen had tried to kill his daughter last night. She gave a half smile in reply. “We can get Richie to handle Eloise whilst we take the Coven to stop Apophis,” he said, as the thoughts came to him.
“I’ll help,” said James to the surprise of everyone in the room.
“You will?” Dean asked, beaming with pride.
“No, he won’t,” said Kristen, stepping in front of James her shoulders hunched and her fists clenched. “You heard what Nick said. Even he doesn’t want a part of this.”
“Not because he’s scared, because it’s not his business,” argued James.
“It’s not ours either.”
“I’m helping and frankly so should you after what you did last night.”
For a moment Kristen looked hurt. Then the anger returned to her face. “Idiots. All of you are idiots,” she said looking around the room. “You’re all going to die and you just go walking merrily to your deaths. You are outnumbered and outmatched. And judging from the progress you’ve made, or lack thereof, you’re all outwitted too.” She looked back at James and shook her head in frustration. “You want to join the idiots? Go ahead, but don’t ask me to help. I’ll be at home when you realise you can’t win.” Before James could respond she was gone.
Dean broke the silence. “I’m proud of you, Dad,” he said.
James smiled warmly at Dean and gave the tiniest of nods. It looked, for a moment, like James might cry, but he contained it well. “Shall we get Richie outside?” he said.
James and Dean carried Richie downstairs whilst Arthur and Clara followed. Before taking him anywhere near sunlight, they wrapped him in the thickest blankets they could find. Arthur had no idea if the blankets would protect him from the sun but it was the best plan he had and he didn’t intend for Richie to be exposed for long. Arthur and Clara went into the back garden first and retrieved the parasols from the shed. They erected them to cover as much of the patio as possible before telling James and Dean to bring Richie out. They laid him gently down on the patio and then the four of them waited.
“Thank you, by the way,” Arthur said to James, wanting to break the silence.
“For what?”
“Helping. You could have left town, but you didn’t. You’re not the same man I remember,” Arthur said. He couldn’t say that James was a good person, not yet, but he certainly wasn’t the nasty piece of work he’d been before Arthur had died.
“Thanks, Arthur. I think,” said James, his cheeks reddened. It was the first time Arthur had seen him embarrassed.
“Quick,” Clara said and she and Arthur hopped back inside the house.
“Richard Morgan I invite you inside,” said Arthur in an incredibly formal manner.
Richie wiggled minutely, but failed to move in any substantial way. James and Dean hauled him up off the floor and carried him back into the house. They took him through to the darkened living room where they unwrapped him and propped him in an armchair. Then the four of them stood before him, patiently waiting for him to wake fully. He already looked a lot healthier. His skin was no longer dry and cracked, his hair had some spring to it. In short he looked alive. His eyes opened slowly and his head rolled lazily as he looked at them. His brow furrowed in confusion before he closed his eyes again.
“I must be hallucinating…” he mumbled weakly. “There is no way that Winters and Tenson stand side by side.”
Arthur allowed a grin to escape and James let out a full laugh. “You’ve got a point there, but you’re not dreaming,” said Arthur.
Richie opened his eyes and looked wearily up at Arthur. “Arthur Winters? We’ve never actually had the pleasure,” he said.
“I’m hoping the pleasure will be mine once I’ve told you what’s going on here,” said Arthur.
“As much as I’d love to hear what you’ve got to say, I need blood and I need it now,” replied Richie.
Luckily, Arthur had acquired plenty of blood when they’d rescued Richie. He retrieved all the blood bags from the freezer and then they all sat down and watched Richie guzzle down half of it before he was ready to listen to what they had to say. “Alright, tell me your story, Arthur,” he said. He already looked ten times healthier than before and had plenty more energy, though there was still a sickly pallor under his eyes, most probably an effect of the venom.
Arthur explained everything that was happening in town to Richie and was amazed to see that he barely reacted to any of it. Throughout the story Richie continued drinking from the blood bags, but his expression remained neutral. ‘That is quite a story,” Richie said when it was done. “But I can’t help you.”
“What?” Arthur said, his jaw dropping. He had not expected anything but a yes from Richie.
“I appreciate that you rescued me from Ramsay, but everyone I loved is dead. My clan has been taken. My home infested by Ramsay and his followers. And now my town is being massacred. I’m sorry, Arthur, but I have nothing to fight for.”
“Richie, that is exactly what you have to fight for,” said Clara softly. “Fight for your home, take it back. Drive your enemies out. Take control
of your clan and save your town.”
“For what?” he asked with all the air of a man who cared about nothing.
“The town is surrounded there’s no way out. If you don’t fight you’ll die,” said Clara.
Richie nodded. “Yes. I know. And I’m fine with that.” He stood up and placed his blood bag down on the side table. “I’m sorry for your trouble, but I’m done with everything.” He headed for the door, although Arthur didn’t know where he was planning on going since he couldn’t leave the house until nightfall.
“You’re just going to let Eloise kill everyone?” Arthur asked, a note of accusation in his voice. There was no need for tact at this point.
Richie stopped dead in the doorway. He looked back over his shoulder, his eyes narrowed. “Eloise? Eloise Cultrum?” he asked, his voice was dark.
“Yes. She’s the one in charge of the soldiers. I thought I said that.”
“No, Arthur, you did not say that.” Richie turned fully to face them once again. He looked different now, there was a look of purpose about him. “Eloise and Jonathan kept me a prisoner for thirty years. Thirty years of experiments and torture. I haven’t forgotten a single day of that. The agony they put me through. Never knowing if I would ever see Victor again. If I’d ever even see the outside of that wretched building. Now she has the gall to come back to my town. Oh, no, no, no. I will take my clan back and then I will march my followers on these despicable soldiers who come to my town looking for a war. And when I find Eloise I will make her wish she had killed me all those years ago.”
Arthur looked at Clara and smiled. Finally the tide was turning in their favour.
Chapter 24
Nick sat in his chair, Olivia perched on the arm, staring at the three strangers who had turned up on the doorstep. Olivia had assumed they were more of Nick’s less savoury associates and she’d been surprised to find that he knew them no more than she did. The leader was a short dark-eyed woman. Nick could tell she was the leader from the way she held herself. The other woman was taller, but had a dumpier frame. The third stranger was a man. About the same height as the leader but younger. He had a fluffy moustache that Nick had the insane urge to incinerate.
“I assume you know who I am, which means the only thing left to do is for the three of you to introduce yourselves and explain why you’ve come to me. For all of our sakes be succinct,” said Nick coldly.
“Nickolas,” Olivia said in the increasingly familiar tone she adopted when he was being rude. He ignored her.
The leader, who was sitting in the middle of the sofa, her associate either side of her spoke. “I’m Naomi and this is Sam and Joanne,” she explained, gesturing to each of her friends in turn. We work for Kayla.”
That simple sentence had both Nick and Olivia sitting up straighter. “Kayla?” Nick said delicately. He wondered if this was a revenge mission.
“Yes,” Naomi said, showing no sign she’d noticed Nick’s reaction. “Kayla recruited me to create a team that would ensure Apophis never broke free from Elysium.”
“Well you’ve all done a poor job,” Nick told them. “Last I heard he was running around this very town. I assume you’ve come to stop him?”
“We have,” Joanne said. “But we need a couple of things.”
“So naturally you came to me,” said Nick. He slouched in his chair. He wasn’t interested in helping them. It was their mess, they could clean it.
“You know where we can find both. We need Kayla and the Promethean Flame,” said Naomi.
Nick narrowed his eyes, wondering how much they knew. “Kayla is in Montford Manor, conveniently that’s where you’ll find Apophis too,” he told them.
“And the Flame?” said Sam curtly.
Nick raised an eyebrow. “The Flame is within me. And that is where it will remain,” he replied.
“Nickolas, perhaps you don’t fully realise the gravity of the situation,” said Naomi. “Apophis will burn this entire planet if we don’t stop him. We have the weapon we need.” She pulled a short golden cylinder out of her inside pocket and showed it to him. It looked like a posh baton and was utterly unimpressive. “We just need to put the Flame inside it so it will be powerful enough to kill Apophis.”
“You think I would part with my power?” said Nick.
“We only need the Flame,” Sam said.
“The Flame is fused with me. It is inseparable from the rest of my magic. You can’t have one without the other,” said Nick.
“Well give us it all then,” Sam snapped.
Nick leaned forward confrontationally and felt Olivia’s hand go to his shoulder.
“There’s no need for violence,” Naomi said. “We need only borrow your power. As soon as the Spear is used it will be broken and the magic will return to you,” she explained.
“Nick, do this for them. For everyone. Think of the good you’ll be doing,” Olivia said pleadingly. Nick refused to meet her eyes.
“May I speak plainly?” Naomi said, the politeness already slipping from her voice.
“Speak away,” Nick allowed.
“We all know that you had a hand in Apophis’ release. I don’t think it was intentional, but you did all the same. Your actions resulted in hundreds of people being burned in their homes. Not to mention the countless people Apophis has no doubt killed on his way to this town. You have a duty to help us end him,” she said.
Nick knew that what she said was true. If he hadn’t taken Set to Elysium then he would never have gotten near the bottle containing Apophis. Nick was certain that when Set had dropped the bottle the stopper had inadvertently come free. But it changed nothing. “I’ve made many mistakes in my life, Naomi. If I tried to make them all right, eternity would not be long enough.”
“No mistake is bigger than this,” said Joanne.
“How can you be sure that thing will kill him?” Olivia asked.
“This is the spear of Ra. When infused with the Promethean Flame it can kill anything,” explained Naomi.
“Then why didn’t Kayla use it?” said Nick.
“Kayla is above killing,” said Olivia, reprimanding him once again.
“We are not leaving until you agree to do this,” said Naomi. She placed the golden baton firmly on the floor between them and then sat back, arms crossed over her chest.
“I could just kill you,” Nick offered, not bluffing.
“Nickolas,” said Olivia sternly. Once again he ignored her.
“You can’t kill me. Kayla made me immortal and unlike you my life is not bound to any dagger,” she said.
“Kayla made you immortal,” said Nick, smiling. “But I’m guessing that these two were granted immortality from your blood. Which means all I have to do is rip out their hearts and they’ll drop dead where they sit.”
“Try it,” said Sam, jumping to his feet.
Nick was up in a shot, his hand tore through the man’s rib cage and his fingers closed around his rapidly beating heart. “Like this?” he asked.
“Nickolas stop it!” screamed Olivia. Everyone was on their feet but nobody was moving. They all knew that Nick could end Sam’s life before they could stop him.
“Go on then,” Sam goaded through clenched teeth.
“Nick if you do this…” Olivia threatened.
Nick sighed deeply. “I was just proving a point,” he said. He eased his hand out of Sam’s chest and took a step back. As he wiped the blood on a blanket from one of the chairs, Sam’s chest began to close up.
“This is an Armani shirt,” the young-looking man complained.
“Be thankful you’re alive,” muttered Naomi.
“Nickolas,” Olivia said. She took his arm and gently pulled him away from the others. “Do this one thing please.”
“Liv, no. I’m not getting involved in this,” he said.
“You’re already involved. You had a hand in letting him out.”
“Accidentally!”
“I know. But still… You said it yourself, eter
nity isn’t long enough to make up for everything you’ve done. But this one act is enough. Help kill Apophis and save the world. All your wrongs will be righted and we can put everything behind us. Do this and we can finally leave this town and get on with our lives,” said Olivia, looking into his eyes, begging him to do something good.
“You mean it?” he asked in a whisper. “You’ll finally forgive me for everything. You’ll finally let us move on?”
“Yes. I mean, you still have to stop killing people. But yes.”
Nick took a deep breath, considering his options. They weren’t many. He knew that saying no now would be the end of him and Olivia and he was not willing to close that door. “Alright.” He nodded. “I’ll do it.” He turned to the others. “I’ll do it.”
“You will?” Naomi seemed more surprised than anyone. She’d obviously been expecting a longer stand off.
“You’ll get my magic back to me quickly?”
“Apophis will be dead before sundown,” Naomi promised.
“Then what do I need to do?” he asked.
She handed him the baton, that looked nothing like a spear, and told him to pour his magic into it. He retrieved the Ambrotos Dagger from it’s hiding place upstairs and then stood before them all. The baton in one hand, the Dagger in the other. He concentrated on the task and soon enough he began to feel the transfer take hold. It was easily the most unpleasant feeling he’d experienced in six-hundred years. The Dagger glowed as did the baton. Nick’s arms begun to vibrate as the power flowed through them, it felt hot, like molten magma was oozing through his veins. He could feel Olivia behind him, wanting to comfort him, but knowing better than to touch him right now. The three strangers were watching, eyes wide and greedy. Waiting for the weapon that would be delivered to them soon enough. As the last bit of magic left Nick, the Dagger ceased to glow and the still glowing baton extended in length. A pointed end shot from the top, enlarging the baton into a seven-foot tall spear. It suddenly looked a lot more impressive.
Nick felt worse than naked. He was totally exposed. Vulnerable in every way. He was still immortal but a single stab from his Dagger would now kill him. His grip tightened on the Dagger. He could not let it out of his sight now. Not until Apophis was dealt with.
